Following fighting in Juba in July 2016 and Riek Machar’s flight into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the peace agreement between the Government of South Sudan and opposition forces has not only collapsed but has led to new conflict in Greater Equatoria, along the DRC border, according to a new report from the Small Arms Survey.

Since the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations released its seminal report in 2000, UN peacekeeping missions have grown considerably in size and complexity. More than 100,000 uniformed personnel were serving in these missions as of November 2015, an increase of 300 per cent since 2000. These soldiers and police officers are operating in challenging environments, often in underdeveloped countries amidst violent armed groups with little interest for political compromise and no compunctions about attacking their perceived enemies, including UN forces.

In an article and a documentary released in August, National Geographic documented the journey of specially constructed fake tusks from southeastern Central African Republic (CAR) to a small town in Darfur via the disputed enclave of Kafia Kingi. The fake tusks, embedded with GPS-emitting devices, were planted by National Geographic journalists near the small town of Mboki in CAR. After 53 days, the tusks were recorded for the last time in the East Darfur town of Ed Daein, 590 miles northeast of Mboki and about 90 miles southwest of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state.

On 11 June 2015 the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning threats to security in Central Africa, with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) as a main culprit. In a statement, the president of the Security Council noted continued violence perpetrated by the LRA, which ongoing military operations have weakened, but which is still operational. Quoting figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the statement highlighted the large number of people displaced by LRA violence.

In early March 2015 the Ugandan army exhumed and returned to Uganda the remains of top LRA commander Okot Odhiambo. According to unofficial sources, DNA samples from the remains matched samples from known members of Odhiambo’s family living in Uganda. Believed to have been killed in a battle with Ugandan soldiers in the Central African Republic (CAR) in late 2013, Odhiambo’s remains were found after reliable testimony from former LRA combatants who recently defected.

An LRA attack in Naibiapai, Western Equatoria State (WES), took place in early March 2015, the first in that village in three years. According to local officials, an LRA group likely travelling from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), attacked Nabiapai on the night of 3 March, killing one and abducting 13 people. At least nine were later released after self-defense forces engaged the group, reportedly killing one fighter.

In November 2004 the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) began a nationwide programme of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR). Initially it was estimated that 330,000 combatants from ten armed groups would be demobilized and then either returned to civilian life or reintegrated into a reformed national army. However, in early 2008 a further 22 armed groups signed peace agreements and were also incorporated under the DRC government’s National Plan for DDR.

On 29 June 2012 the United Nations (UN) Security Council held a meeting to discuss the threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to populations in South Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the current African Union initiative to counter the fragmented armed group.

As part of the 2013 defense appropriations bill, the United States Senate voted on 17 May to allocate USD 50 million to ‘enhance and expand’ intelligence and surveillance support for US Special Forces and Ugandan troops tracking Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters in central Africa. There are approximately 100 US Special Forces deployed to assist the Ugandan army apprehend LRA leader Joseph Kony and his commanders. About 30 US troops are based in the Central African Republic (CAR), in the southeastern towns of Obo and Djemah.

On 12 May, the Ugandan army said it had captured Caesar Achellam, a senior commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Achellam, who held the rank of general in the LRA, is believed to have been the group’s third-in-command. The army reportedly captured him near the Mbomou River, which forms the border between the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Achellam is the most senior LRA commander to be captured or killed since a Ugandan army offensive started in December 2008.

In early March, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader Joseph Kony became global talking points after a video posted on the Internet by the US-based NGO Invisible Children went viral.
‘Kony2012’, which was viewed more than 100 million times, was designed to generate popular pressure for Kony’s arrest.

Weapons tracing is a set of methods used to identify weapons and ammunition and track their origins. It has an established role in criminal investigations, where it is typically used not only to prove a firearm-related offence, but also to uncover the source of illicit supplies to criminals. By contrast, weapons tracing in conflict and post-conflict situations—for example, by peace support operations (PSOs)— remains a matter of theory, not practice.

By 22 February 2012, at least 30 US military advisers were based in the town of Obo in the Central African Republic (CAR). The Americans set up base away from the Ugandan barracks in the town, in an effort, perhaps, to distance themselves from the increasingly unpopular Ugandan troops. An NGO worker said generally poor behaviour by some Ugandan soldiers, who were seen drunk and with prostitutes in public, coupled with scant LRA activity in the area have caused friction with local communities. Some officials have even called on the Ugandans to leave.

Following US President Barack Obama's decision to deploy US forces to Central Africa, advisers from the US military, deployed to assist the Ugandan army in its operation against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), have arrived in the region. By the middle of January 2012, about 30 US Special Forces were based in the Central African Republic (CAR), settling in the towns of Djemah and Obo where Ugandan troops are also stationed.

Following US President Barack Obama's decision to deploy US forces to Central Africa, the first troops had arrived in the Central African Republic (CAR) by early December 2011. According to US sources, a handful of military personnel set up in Obo, south-eastern CAR, adjacent to a Ugandan People's Defence Force (UPDF) base.

On 14 October 2011 US president Barack Obama stated in a letter to Congress: 'I authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield.

By September 2011 the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony, and his top deputies were believed to have moved from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) into the Central African Republic (CAR), possibly to the vast Zemongo forest near the border with South Sudan’s Western Bahr al Ghazal (WBAG) state.

At least one LRA group of about 50 fighters stayed in the DRC, based in the Garamba National Park, a former LRA base.

The US-supported military offensive conducted by the Ugandan Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) since December 2008 has had mixed results. LRA communications and operational capacity have been disrupted, but most senior commanders remain at large and their ability to wreak havoc remains unhindered. According to recent UN reports, the LRA has killed close to 3,000 people and displaced 400,000 since December 2008.